5 steps to securing your home

Your home is your castle, and so you should always take any necessary precautions to ensure that it’s safe from burglars. Thieves look out for daily routines, and survey your house to find its weaknesses. Here we’ll give 5 steps to ensure that your house and everything in it is safe.

Secure

Lock up! This step is obvious but you’d be surprised at the amount of people who leave a window or door unlocked forgetting that they are putting themselves at risk of theft. Whenever you leave the house lock everything. Even when you go to bed, you should make sure that everything that can be locked up is. Some thieves are bold in their tactics and won’t shy away from gaining entry to your house whilst you’re sleeping.

Make friends

Get involved with your local neighbourhood watch programme or start one if there isn’t already one in place. These programmes are great and help guarantee that you and your neighbours are looking out for one another. It’s also a great opportunity to get to know your neighbourhood. If you’re leaving the area for a while your neighbours can watch over your property and vice versa. It’s a sure-fire way to make sure that your home is always safe.

A loud and obtrusive alarm

Alarm the building. If someone breaks into your property they aren’t going to hang around for very long if it’s emitting a god awful, ear piercingly loud noise. This alarm will alert your neighbours and the local authorities to the break in so that they can respond quickly.

Nowhere to hide

Make sure that the outside of your home is unattractive to burglars. By this I don’t mean make it un-appealing aesthetically, but make it look as if it’s going to be a difficult job for the thieves. Keep the gardens neat and trim eliminating any potential hiding places. Erect fences that will make it hard for them to make a quick getaway and illuminate the property. A burglar doesn’t want to be seen, so make sure it’s impossible for them to hide on their way in and their way out.

Advertising

Don’t advertise your belongings. If your 48” TV is next to the window and your expensive Ipad in full view of passersby, chances are, you’re going to be a victim of burglary. Don’t show off your expensive belongings to thieves! They’ll see it as a perfect opportunity to make some money.

The most important tip I can give is to use your common sense. Try and think from a thief’s perspective. Where could someone gain entry to your property? What could they steal? Where could they hide? By answering all of these questions you’ll be better equipped to turn your home into a suburban Fort Knox.